“In the past two decades, Aharon has had a gnawing question: How might the brain of a ballet dancer differ from an ordinary person? The more dancers he met, the more he thought about the question. Ultimately, he and Julie conceived of a research study using QEEG to study dancers’ brain waves. Ballet West Artistic Director, Adam Sklute, approved their request to approach dancers to participate in the research. Twenty-six dancers volunteered, from Principals to members of Ballet West II. Each dancer’s EEG was recorded using a futuristic-looking cap on their head and having electrodes clipped on both ears for 10 minutes.
“When we began, we had no idea what we would find because nobody had done anything like this with ballet dancers before,” said Aharon. “We knew, however, that whatever was happening in these 26 dancers’ brains, it could not be bad, because it was part of what got them all to one of the top ballet companies in the country.”
I am very interested in this kind of study. As an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Houston, I’ve been working with Dr. Cotreras-Vidal (engineering and neuroscience at UH) on related projects for the past five years. I am one of many artists involved in his larger project, “Your Brain on Art.” I would love to learn more about your research with dancers.